Preventing COPD

Smoking and Respiratory Diseases
Smoking is directly responsible for the majority of lung cancer cases (87 percent), emphysema cases, and chronic bronchitis cases.

Smoking: Truth and Consequences
When you smoke, toxins are carried by your blood to every organ in your body. At the same time, the carbon monoxide in cigarette smoke keeps red blood cells from carrying as much oxygen as normal.

Does Having COPD Increase My Risk for Lung Cancer?
One recent 11-year study found that those with COPD were more likely to develop lung cancer than those without COPD.

How to Quit Smoking, Again
Fewer than a quarter of those who attempt to quit are able to make it beyond three months before resuming smoking. Women usually find it harder to quit than do men, even though women have a higher risk of smoking-related diseases. The following suggestions can help you kick the habit, again, for good.

Options in Nicotine Therapy
By using nicotine replacement therapy to reduce withdrawal symptoms, smokers who try to quit have a better chance of succeeding.

COPD: Watch the Air Quality Index
Clean air is easier to breathe, especially if you have chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

What Are the Health Effects of Air Pollution?
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) tracks five major air pollutants that cause significant health effects: ground-level ozone, nitrogen oxides, sulfur oxides, carbon monoxide and microscopic particles called particulate matter.

Indoor Air Can Cause Health Problems
Don't assume you're safe just because you're inside. The air within homes and other buildings can be more seriously polluted than the outdoor air in even the largest and most industrialized cities.

Should You Use an Air Filter?
Air-filter units can help reduce allergens in your house, but they can’t work alone.

Conditions Investigated by Environmental Medicine Programs
Allergies, asthma, heart disease, and cancer are among the long list of health conditions with ties to environmental factors.

Accomplishments of Environmental Medicine
One highlight: Exposure to fine particles, sulfur dioxide, and acid aerosols has been linked to an increase in respiratory symptoms and reduced lung capacity.

Epidemiology
Epidemiology is the study of the occurrence of disease in people, and applying that information from the study to the control of health problems.

Occupational Lung Diseases
Repeated and long-term exposure to certain irritants on the job can lead to an array of lung diseases that may have lasting effects, even after exposure ceases.

Conditions Investigated by Environmental Medicine Programs
Allergies, asthma, heart disease, and cancer are among the long list of health conditions with ties to environmental factors.

Accomplishments of Environmental Medicine
One highlight: Exposure to fine particles, sulfur dioxide, and acid aerosols has been linked to an increase in respiratory symptoms and reduced lung capacity.

Epidemiology
Epidemiology is the study of the occurrence of disease in people, and applying that information from the study to the control of health problems.

Occupational Lung Diseases
Repeated and long-term exposure to certain irritants on the job can lead to an array of lung diseases that may have lasting effects, even after exposure ceases.